Device for fastening prison-doors



UNITED STATES lPAT-ENT OFFICE.

LEMUEL M. HAM, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DEVICE FOR FASTENING PRISON-DOORS.

SPEClFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,749, dated January 5, 1886.

Application filed August 17, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEMUEL M. HAM, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, a citizen of the United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fastenings for Prison-Cell Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining its nature.

The ce1ldoors of prisons, lock-nps, Src., are usually provided with two sets of fastenings, one of which is the lock which fastens each cell independently, and the other of which is what is called a throw-ban7 which fastens the doors of a whole range of cells. As now made, the throw-bar is a straight bar of iron sliding in a groove, and having offsets or lugs upon it which project down so as just to clear the upper edge of the cell-door. These offsets are usually about a couple of inches wide, and the throw or longitudinal movement of the bar is somewhat more than two inches. At or near the upper front corner of the celldoor is fastened a lug or offset adapted to engage behind the lug or offset on the throwbar at one position, and to clear it when the throw-bar is in another position.

When the prisoners are sent to meals, they usually take their rations into the cell with them, and are instructed to pull the door to. The throw-bar is then moved so as to engage with the lug on the door, and the prisoners are sufficiently secured; but if the prisoner does not close his door completely the throwbar may be moved and pass by the lug on the door, so that one or more cells in a range would be unlocked.

My improved throw-bar is made so-that when it is moved endwise it rises or falls, and it is so arranged above the door that when it is at its highest position the top of the door will clear the bottom of the throw-bar, and when it is in its lowest position a considerable part of the bar will lie directly over the door; and it is to be so arranged that the vertical movement of which it is capable cannot take place except in conjunction with the horizontal movement of which it is capable, so that by locking the door horizontally in the guard-room the constructive features of the seal No. 114,587. (No model.)

bar itself lock it down vertically. One way of doing this would be to swing it with links, and so give the throw-bar practically the motion of one of the members of the well-known parallel rule. The way, however, which I prefer is shown in the annexed drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a front elevation. section on line x x of Fig. 1.

A is the cell-door. C is the throw-bar, which slides in a groove above the door. This groove is made near the architrave B, Fig. 2; or it might be made simply by having supporting-straps around the throw-bar. The throw-bar is formed in the upper side with notches n, and across the groove in which the throw-bar runs over the door is placed a transverse pin, d. When the throw-bar is at its lowest position,this transverse pin d is over the top of the highest part of the throw-bar; but when the throw-bar is moved to unlock it this securing-pin d comes over the notch n, and the bar lifts freely and disengages itself from the door. This upward movement of the bar, combined with the horizontal movement, is due to the fact that there are notches made in the under side of the bar intermediate between the notches n. These notches rest on rollers e below the bar, and are partlyinclined planes c. On moving the bar horizontally in the direction of the arrow in Fig. l, the notch n is moved under the transverse pin d, and then the inclined plane c engages with the roller e, and the bar lifts from its position in front of the door A until the horizontal part of the bar O rests upon the rolle/rsae/ Fig. 2 is a In case any cell shall be left open to the least degree, the bar would not drop when th* Owpf/ and could not be thrown far enough" 521 locked, because the ends of the notch nwould engage with the sides of the transverse pin d before the locking position of thebar had been reached in the guard-roden, so that a bar of this sort would be a deiefor as well as a locking device. Itwillfala/bue seen that by having the whole of th@ top of the door engaged by the bar the/loss of the lug attached to the door wouldbe of no consequence.

Havingthus fully described my invention, I n'o claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of thel United States- 1. The combinatiomwith a cell-doer, of the throw-bar @adapted to be reciprocated longitudinally in the direction of the Width of the door, and having recesses therein adjacent to 5 the door provided with lifting-offsets c, Which, in the longitudinal reciprocaticn of the throwbal, engage with pins e in the Wall of the cell, and cause the throw-bar to be lifted from or lowered toits place of engagement With the ro cell-door, substantially as described.

2. 4In combination With the Wall and door of r a pris0n-cell, a throw-bar adapted t0 be moved longitudinally in front of the cell-door, a notch un theupper Side of said .throw-bar Shorter LEMUEL M. HAM.

Witnesses: Y

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, FRED. B. DOLAN. 

